In Ohio, Ryan Says China Treats Obama 'Like a Doormat'

John McCormack

August 16, 2012 12:07 PM

North Canton, Ohio"It's great to be here in North Canton today," Paul Ryan said as he took the stage Thursday morning at Walsh University's packed gymnasium. "Or, as Joe Biden might say, 'It's great to be here in Nevada!'"

After the light-hearted dig at the vice president, who mixed up Virginia and North Carolina the other day, Ryan energetically delivered his stump speech, repeating the lines he delivered last night about President Obama's "raiding" of Medicare to pay for Obamacare. Ryan also launched new attacks on the Obama administration's trade policy with China.

“We come from manufacturing states. We make things, we grow things,” the Wisconsin congressman told the crowd of Ohioans. “The more goods we manufacture, the more food we grow … the more good jobs we have here at home.”

“Free trade is a powerful tool for peace and prosperity, but our trading partners need to play by the rules," Ryan said. "This challenge focuses on China. They steal our intellectual property rights, they block access to their markets, they manipulate their currency. President Obama promised he would stop these practices. He said he’d go to the mat with China. Instead, they’re treating him like a doormat. We’re not going to let that happen. Mitt Romney and I are going to crack down on China cheating and we’re going to make sure that trade works for America.”

Ryan did not detail how the Romney-Ryan administration would make this happen, but Romney is committed to a number of specific China trade policies, such as naming China a currency manipulator and imposing "countervailing duties."